protecting you no matter what - seungchan (stray kids)

3.

Seungmin and Jisung stepped inside the dorm room. Seungmin was, to say the least, in awe. The room's floors were lined with dark oak planks, the walls clean and white, the open kitchen lighted by lamps from the ceiling posh and clean. The doors were brown, and the living room had a comfy couch and a gray beanbag placed in front of a wide television.

"Woah," Jisung said, also amazed by the quality of the room. "Hey, imma unpack my stuff in that room over there, then we can go eat. You okay with that?" he asked. Seungmin nodded politely and went down the hallway to the last room.

The room, of course, was in top condition and even had a good study table just for him. He opened the wardrobe and his suitcase and started unpacking.

~

Seungmin and Jisung headed over to the restaurant nearby to get their lunch. It was at that moment that Seungmin realised he only had enough money for his lunch and his school textbooks, and he had to get another part-time job.

"Hey, Seungmin, my other friends are gonna be there too, that okay with you?"

Seungmin gulped. Other friends? There was probably gonna be a lot of them. Maybe if he just stayed quiet it would be fine. He was good at that anyway.

"Seungmin? Earth to Seungmin. Oh yeah, you should probably take off your mask, we're gonna eat soon yaknow,"

You don't want to see what's under this mask, though.

~
The two of them reached the restaurant, and Seungmin's heart seemed to be beating so fast his breathing was audible.

" Hey, hey, calm down, " Jisung said with a look of worry on his face." You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah...just never been around this many people before." Seungmin managed to say. He didn't know what it was, but he was a little bit open with Jisung now.

"Heh, don't worry, they'll love you," Jisung said with a grin. Seungmin gave Jisung the 'are you sure about that' look, and Jisung just nodded gleefully, opening the glass doors of the restaurant.

Jisung walked over to a table at the back, while Seungmin followed. Seungmin counted the amount of people sitting there. 1,2,... 6. Six people. Jisung must be a social butterfly.

"Hey guys," Jisung greeted them with a smile.

"Jisungieeeeee!" a brown-haired male stood up and hugged Jisung tightly, Jisung hugging back. The brunette glanced over to Seungmin and tilted his head in confusion.

"Oh, yeah, guys this is Seungmin. Seungmin, these were the friends I was talking about earlier," Jisung introduced, and Seungmin wondered how he did it so calmly because at this point his heart was beating so fast he was exhausted.

Silence ensued.

"Aren't you gonna greet us...?" a silver-haired male with a deep voice with a hint of an accent asked.

"Heh, sorry, he's a bit shy," Jisung said, scratching the bcak of his head while chuckling.

Great. They already don't like me.

"Well, sit down, guys!" another one of them said.

Both of them sat down. Seungmin didn't dare look up.

"Seungmin, this is Minho," Jisung gestured to the male who was hugging him earlier. Minho gave him a short wave. "Take off your mask, you're gonna suffocate in there,"

Seungmin internally gulped. Here goes nothing. Seungmin took off the mask he had been wearing for so long, taking a sharp breath of the fresh air he had been deprived of.

He could hear gasps from the other side of the table.

" he's..so...cUTE!!!" an excitable voice cooed from across the table. "That's Hyunjin," Jisung said, chuckling.

Hyunjin went over to pinch Seungmin's cheeks, while Seungmin just had a blank expression on his face. Seungmin glanced over to his right, and noticed a blonde male's gaze locked on him. Does he already hate me or something? Seungmin felt uncomfortable and looked away slowly, still feeling the pair of eyes on him.

"Does he ever smile, Sung?" a boy resembling a fennec fox asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice. "Jeongin that's rude shhhh," the deep-voiced guy said.

"That's Jeongin and the other one is Felix. He's from Australia, along with Chan,"

Jisung gestured to the blonde who was staring at him before. Chan raised a hand  and did a little wave. Seungmin acknowledged him with an awkward nod and turned back. He could still feel the uncomfortable pair of eyes on him. What does he have against me already?

"And I'm Changbin!" the last person said, holding two peace signs beside his face and giving a blooming smile, possibly in an attempt of being cute. "Shuddup Changbin no one likes your aegyo," Jisung shot back playfully as Changbin proceeded to grab his bag and launch it at Jisung.

"Chan is treating!" Felix announced gleefully. Chan gave the -_- face as Hyunjin started dramatically thanking Chan in a playful manner.

The food arrived and everyone dug in. Personally, the food was too boujee for Seungmin, because having surviving on instant food for a while, mostly starving, this kind of food was far out of his reach.

"Bro? You gonna dig in?" Changbin asked. Seungmin nodded quickly and took a spoonful of his pasta and carefully chewed it. "

" h e 's  s o  c u t e  I t' s  d I s t r a c t I n g, " Hyunjin said is desperate tone." Hyunjin stop your scaring him! " Jeongin said.

Seungmin ate his food without saying a word. And all the while he could feel Chan's gaze on him, and honestly it was scary to think about. But you know, the rest of them were nice to him, and maybe it wasn't that bad, he thought.

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(Ughhh why is everything I write so cringeh)

(anyway stay safe yalls ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))